Vehicle Headlight Pivoting Lever for High Force Actuation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing headlight designs for vehicles, particularly trucks, face challenges in providing high actuating forces for pivoting the lighting unit about a horizontal axis in limited space, requiring significant force and complicating the replacement or repair of the linear drive unit.
Innovation Solution
The pivoting lever is designed in multiple parts, with a lower and upper element connected via a screw connection, allowing for easy disassembly and reassembly, enabling the linear drive unit to be removed with the lower pivoting lever element, and featuring a clamp-style support part for the actuator, which facilitates high actuating forces and a space-saving arrangement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Force
If a linear drive unit is used to pivot the lighting unit about a horizontal axis, then high actuating forces can be generated, but the available space is limited and the drive unit cannot be easily replaced
Solution Approach 1:
The pivoting lever is divided into two separate elements: a first pivoting lever element and a second pivoting lever element. The linear drive unit connects to the first element while the second element remains attached to the housing. This segmentation allows the linear drive unit to be easily detached and replaced by removing only the first pivoting lever element, without affecting the second element or requiring complete disassembly of the pivoting mechanism.
2Force
If high actuating forces are required for pivoting the lighting unit about a horizontal axis, then the force requirement increases, but the available space for accommodating the drive mechanism is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The pivoting lever elements utilize a vertical arrangement where the first and second elements are positioned at different heights along the vertical dimension. The linear drive unit is mounted in the vertical direction, allowing it to generate high actuating forces through a compact vertical footprint rather than requiring extensive horizontal space. This vertical orientation enables the mechanism to fit within limited spatial constraints while maintaining the necessary force output.
Data Source
AI summary
A headlight for vehicles, in particular trucks, comprising a lighting unit which is pivotably mounted about a pivot axis; a linear drive unit which contains a linearly movable actuator; and a pivoting lever which is coupled to a lighting unit at a first end and to the actuator at a second end, wherein the lighting unit is pivotable by means of the actuator. The pivoting lever is designed in multiple parts, comprising a lower pivoting lever element having a support part for supporting on the actuator and an upper pivoting lever element on which a horizontal axis is arranged, the pivoting lever being pivotably mounted about said axis.